Foil coiling machine

ABSTRACT

A foil coiling apparatus is described wherein a plurality of pairs of spindles are mounted upon a rotating member and moved to four successive stations including an in-feed station for cores to be gripped by the spindles, an inspection station, and two coiling stations. Arcuate plates associated with each pair of spindles guides the leading edge of the foil about a core held between said spindles to initiate coiling of the foil upon the core. A reciprocating member at the first coiling station moves into and out of cooperation with each arcuate plate in succession to extend the guiding surface of said plates assist in initiating the wrapping of the foil about the core.

United States Patent [191 Van Schijndel [4 1 Nov. 19, 1974 FOIL COILING MACHINE [75] Inventor: Marinus Johannes Van Schiindel,

Utrecht, Netherlands [73] Assignee: Hunter Douglas International N.V.,

Willemstad, Curacao, Netherlands [22] Filed: Jan. 12, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 323,296

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Jan. 15, 1972 Netherlands 7200619 [52] U.S. Cl. 242/56 A, 242/65 [51] Int. Cl. B65h 19/20 [58] Field of Search 242/56 A, 55, 58.1-58.5,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,734,423 5/1973 Kataoka 242/56 A FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 137.429 2/1960 U.S.S.R.., 242/56 A Primary Examiner-Leonard D. Christian Artery? 45w! o firmfllenpie & dm

[5 7] ABSTRACT A foil coiling apparatus is described wherein a plurality of pairs of spindles are mounted upon a rotating member and moved to four successive stations including an in-feed station for cores to be gripped by the spindles, an inspection station, and two coiling stations. Arcuate plates associated with each pair of spindles guides the leading edge of the foil about a core held between said spindles to initiate coiling of the foil upon the core. A reciprocating member at the first coiling station moves into and out of cooperation with each arcuate plate in succession to extend the guiding surface of said plates assist in initiating the wrapping of the foil about the core.

6 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures PATENIE HEY I 91974 SHEET 10F 3 FOIL COILING MACHINE The invention relates to an apparatus for producing foils rolls consisting of a core with a certain length of metal foil coiled thereon, preferably aluminium foil for domestic purposes. There are many apparatus for the coiling of thin-gauged sheet-like material onto rolls, all these apparatus being designed to work up webs of pa per, textiles and plastic of a very slight thickness.

Although metal foil could be easily reckoned amongst the above mentioned group of materials, experience has shown that this material has a plurality of qualities due to which the working up, and especially the working up of the material into small rolls in mass production, is impossible with the conventional apparatus. The problems presenting themselves when working up metal foils in such apparatus are so great that mass production is out of the question. These problems essentially consist of the occurrence of a very great number of failures, inter alia, owing to the smoothness of the material and the great tendency of form innumerable pleats and folds in the material, the so-called wrinkling. Moreover the metal foil, although it has a reasonable great tensile strength, is very vulnerable as to the formation of cracks. Therefore, one has not succeeded so far in designing an apparatus capable of producing metal foil rolls free of trouble and at a high speed.

The apparatus according to the invention removes said problems and is capable of effecting a trouble-free mass production of metal foil rolls at a high speed. The foil length to be coiled per roll is adjustable.

For this special purpose the apparatus according to the invention is characterized in that it is provided, inter alia, with foil supply means for the continuous supply of the foil from a supply roller to foil coiling stations belonging to the apparatus; an apparatus frame also provided with a plurality of means belonging to the apparatus; storing and feeding means for empty, oblong cores; core conveying means for the conveyance of a core to a first and then to a second coiling station; discharge means for completely coiled foil rolls; core driving means giving the core, at least on the coiling stations, a continuously rotating movement; foil cutting means severing the foil web between the successive coiling stations; foil coiling means with which the leading end of the foil each time is coiled onto an empty core; the core driving means consisting, inter alia, of sets of core supports reciprocable into their axial directions, between which supports the core ends can be rotatably clamped, and in which at least one core support is continuously rotatably driven by means of a slip coupling or the like before the foil is coiled onto the core and the foil coiling means consisting, inter alia, of a blowing nozzle for a gaseous pressurised fluid as well as of peripheral guiding means, extending at least around a peripheral part of an empty core which has been supplied to a first coiling station, which peripheral guiding means may operate in such a way that, when in their active positions, these guiding means and the circumferential outer surface of the core form a slot which is narrowing into the direction of rotation of the core, which slot, in cooperation with a gaseous fluid which is temporarily discharged from the blowing nozzle, leads an extremity of the continuously supplied foil to the periphery of an empty rotating core.

Although it is within the scope of the invention, that the core conveying means which convey the successive cores to a first and then to a second coiling station, may pursue various patterns of movement, i.e., rectilinear, arcuate or combinations thereof, etc., the conveying means in order to achieve a compact construction of the apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the invention consist of a member rotating stepwisely and rotatable mounted in the apparatus frame, to which member the sets of core supports are applied, equally spaced into the direction of rotation and also a part of the peripheral guiding means being attached to the rotating member, at the location of each set of core supports.

A further characteristic feature of the invention contributing to a compact construction of the apparatus consists in the fact that the first coiling station, during a rest position of the stepwisely rotating means, is formed, inter alia, by the foil coiling means, the foil severing means and one set of core supports, and the second coiling station, inter alia, is formed by one set of core supports and the discharge means for completely coiled foil rolls.

A particularly favourable operation of the apparatus according to the invention is achieved when according to a further characterising feature of the invention, the stepwisely rotating member has at least three rest positions during each revolution, in each of which positions always a. one set of core supports can cooperate with the storing and feeding means for the successive supply and clamping of an empty core between the core supports;

b. a second set of core supports is present in the first coiling station, in which station this set of core supports is capable of clamping a core, driving it rotatably and giving it a position in which the foil web can be severed, the obtained free end of the supplied web can be blown around the empty core, and a coiling of the foil onto the core can be effected to a controllable percentage of the total quantity;

c. a third set of core supports is present in the second coiling station, angularly spaced further one step of the rotating member, in which station the remnant of the amount of foil, which is coiled onto one core in the position mentioned sub b) can be coiled, and then the completely coiled foil roll can be discharged in cooperation with the discharge means, after the severance of the foil web at the first coiling station and the subsequent retraction of the core supports.

in order to avoid considerable interruptions of production and to restrict the number of foil web guides, according to a characterizing feature of the invention the stepwisely rotating means preferably has four rest positions, and in the additional rest position one set of core supports may hold a core clamped at the location of a control member, e.g. a photo-electric cell, capable of checking the presence of an empty core and capable of interrupting the operation of the apparatus, in a manner know per se, in the absence of a core.

According to a characterizing feature of the invention a very simple, efficiently operating and cheap embodiment of the peripheral guide means can be realised by having the part of the peripheral guide means, which is attached to the rotating member, consist of substantially arcuate, plateshaped members applied at the location of the sets of core supports which members are arranged substantially concentrically in respect of a core temporarily clamped between the set of core supports and are spaced from the core over a distance which is greater than the maximum thickness of the total quantity of foil to be coiled onto the core, another part of the peripheral means being attached to the frame, but not to the rotating member, which part consists of a movable plate, which is situated at the location of the first coiling station and can be brought from an inactive position into an active position, in which position the plate together with the plate-shaped member which is temporarily situated at the location of this coiling station, and the rotating core which is situated between the pertaining core supports forms the narrowing slot for the guidance of the foil end to the periphery of the empty rotating core for the coiling of the foil.

To make the severance of the foil web free of problems the foil cutting means according to a preferred embodiment of the invention are characterized in that they consist of a foil cutting member attached to-the frame and displaceable from and towards the foil web, transversely to the foil web, and of a stationary web cutting member cooperating with the web and rigidly attached to the rotating member, which cutting member is formed by a longitudinal end of each arcuate plate-shaped member, both cutting members being mounted in such a way that the severance is effected between the first coiling station and the second coiling station.

However, it is also possible within the scope of the invention to effect this severance exclusively with a movable knife, without a stationary cutting member. The above-described preferred construction, however, is recommendable for certain materials and/or material gauges (thickness).

A further preferred embodiment according to the invention is characterized in that the discharge means for completely coiled foil rolls consist, inter alia, of a contact member which can be overturned (tilted away) and, during the coiling of the remnant of the foil in the coiling position in the second coiling station, is softly pressed against the roll for a smooth coiling of the final portion of the foil, and then can tilt away, taking along the completely coiled foil roll.

By this feature the rolls can be smoothly coiled and the coiled rolls can be simply discharged by one mechanism, without the foil or the foil rolls being damaged.

As an additional guarantee, according to a characterizing feature of the invention, the foil coiling means can be provided with a pressure member which is movable into and out of an active position which pressure member, when in the active position, prior to and during the severance and the subsequent coiling around the empty core, holds the supplied foil pressed against the rotating core, e.g. by means of a pressure roll.

According to a characterizing feature of the invention, a simplification of the guiding system for the foil web can be achieved in that the foil supply means and the core supports are arranged in such a way that the core which is located in the first coiling station at the time of the coiling of the remnant amount onto the core in the second station, functions as a guide roll for the supplied foil.

When an entirely hollow core is used or when cores the extremities of which are hollow are used, it is favourable, according to a characterizing feature of the invention, to effect the core supports as axially reciprocable shaft studs which can be pressed with friction into the hollow core ends and be withdrawn therefrom with the intermediary of mechanical stops which prevent that the core moves along with the movement of one of the shaft studs.

A favourable embodiment of the apparatus according to the invention is achieved when, according to a further preferred embodiment of the invention, the various movable parts in view of their actuation are coupled to hydraulic or pneumatic cylinders which. in dependence on the desired sequence of actuation and movement, are excited in a manner known per se and by means of control systems which are known per se.

Hydraulic or pneumatic systems used in this embodiment, and the control systems to be used therewith which take care of the excitation and transmit the actuation signals, do not belong to the invention and no protection is claimed for them as such. Considering the fact that any expert has these systems at his disposal in a great number of adaptable forms, such systems will not be entered into further in the specification and the drawings.

Further particulars pertaining to the invention will be mentioned in the specification or represented in the drawings.

The invention will be elucidated below by means of an embodiment, use being made of two diagrammatical representations of an embodiment of the apparatus according to the invention, in various positions of the means pertaining to the apparatus.

FIG. 1 is a view which shows diagrammatically an embodiment of the apparatus according to the invention, in a situation in which the foil is coiled in a first coiling station, an empty core is supplied and a finished completely coiled foil roll is discharged.

FIG. 2 is a view which shows diagrammatically the same embodiment in a position just before the severance of the foil web.

FIG. 3 is a view which shows a partial section on the line IIIIIl in FIG. 2 with details of embodiments of the core driving means and a set of core supports.

In FIG. 1 the apparatus 1 is diagrammatically represented with the means pertaining to theapparatus in a certain position. To theapparatus belong an apparatus frame 2 on or to which are attached a stock roll support 3 on which a stock roll 4 with aluminium domestic foil is located. The foil web 5 is supplied to a first foil coiling station 9 by means of foil feeding members 6 consisting of a driven roll and guide rolls 7. For the supply of empty, oblong cores 10 onto which the aluminium foil is to be coiled, storing and feeding means are attached to the frame 2, consisting, inter alia, of a storage container 11 and distribution means 12 and 13.

These distribution means are effected here as pneumatically operated plates enabling the supply of the empty cores at the correct moment of time. As indicated in FIG. 1, a core 14 has just been released by the distribution means. In the frame are located also discharge means 15 for completely coiled foil rolls. These discharge means consist of a contact member 16 which can be tilted away and is pivotably connected with a pneumatically reciprocable plate 17 and a rod 18. A stop 19 is present to start the tilting movement of the tiltable contact member 16 during the downward movement of the plate 17. A completely coiled foil roll 20 supported by the contact member, is tilted into a discharge member, e.g., a discharge gutter 21, during said tilting movement.

Furthermore, the apparatus comprises core conveying means consisting of a stepwisely rotating member 22 mounted rotatably in the frame 2. To this rotating member the core drive means are attached which means consist of sets of core supports 23 and 24 which are reciprocable in their axial directions. In the embodiment according to the drawing four sets of core supports are located on the rotating means, mutually equally spaced, i.e., each set 90 behind the other. The rotating member 22 is stepwisely driven and has four rest positions, in which rest positions the sets of core supports take the positions represented by the capitals A, B, C and D in FIGS. 1 and 2. Although the apparatus may be provided also with a rotating member having only three sets of core supports or, if desired, only two sets of core supports, which means that in those cases the rotating member takes up three and two rest position, respectively, during a complete revolution, the embodiment with four sets of core supports and four rest positions has a plurality of additional advantages. Thus, an empty core present at a certain moment in the first coiling station during the operation of the apparatus, may function as a guide roll for the foil web (FIG. 2). Furthermore, it is possible, by means of this embodiment, to locate a control member 25 at a location which can easily be reached, which member is capable of checking the absence of an empty core. This is effected in position B. However, the invention does not relate to this control member or its operation since such means and their applications are sufficiently known.

Furthermore, the apparatus comprises peripheral guide means certain parts of which are attached to the rotating member 22 and another part to the frame. The parts attached to the rotating member 22 mainly consist of arcuate plates 26 which at the location of the core supports are arranged concentrically in respect of the cores which are temporarily present between these core supports. The inner side of these plates is situated at a distance from the core outer side which is greater than the thickness of the amount of foil to be coiled onto the core, so that a completely coiled foil roll cannot contact the plates. The other part of the peripheral means consists of an arched or angled guide plate 27 which can be moved up and down and is attached to the frame at a point over the first coiling station. This guide plate 27 has an active position in which it joins one of the arcuate plates 26 which at that moment is on the first coiling station. This feature will elucidated later on.

Right below the first coiling station foil severance means are located, consisting of a foil cutting member 28 reciprocable transversely to the foil web and provided with a severing knife, serrated or not. Together with a cutting member which is stationary during the severing treatment, this reciprocable cutting member forms the foil severing means. This stationary cutting member is formed by a longitudical edge of the respective arcuate plates 26 of the peripheral guide means. This longitudinal edge has been ground to a counter knife 30, serrated or not. Moreover, the apparatus disposes of a blowing nozzle 31 directed transversely to the foil web which blowing nozzle together with the peripheral guide means forms the foil coiling means. This blowing nozzle may be carried out as a reciprocable part and, preferably as indicated in the drawing, is coupled to the reciprocable cutting member 28.

Together with the foil cutting means the foil cutting means take care of the severance of the foil web at the location of the first coiling station. They also guide the free end of the supplied foil web around the rotating empty core which is present there, with a view to the coiling of the new foil roll. By means of a pressure pipe 32 the blowing nozzle 31 is connected with a pressure system for a pressurised gaseous fluid, e.g., air. This air may be fed to the blowing nozzle at the moment of the severance of the coil and the subsequent coiling of the free end onto the empty core. The manner in which a temporary supply is achieved, does not form a part of the invention and, therefore, is not elucidated further.

A further part of the foil coiling means consist of a pressure member in the shape of a pressure roll 33 which is movable into and away from an active position. This pressure roll can be moved in such a way by means of a lever system 34 or otherwise that the foil web is maintained pressed against the rotating core in the first coiling station by means of this pressure roll during the severance and the beginning of the coiling.

FIG. 3 gives further details of the core driving means, and the core supports which can be moved towards and away from each other and together form one set of core supports. The rotating member is mounted on a shaft 35 rotatably mounted in the frame 2. Two shaft studs 23 and 24 have a common axis and both are axially displaceable in the rotating member 22. Although both shaft studs may have different shapes and may operate in another way, each shaft stud in this embodiment is provided with a somewhat conical or arcuate extremity, the shaft studs having an outer diameter which is somewhat larger than the inner diameter of the empty cores. In this embodiment the axial movements of both shaft studs are effected by compression springs 36 for the inward movement and pneumatic cylinders 37 for the outward movement. Within the scope of the invention this movement can be given to the shaft studs in another way also. The drawing shows that the shaft studs have penetrated over a slight distance into the extremities of the empty core 14 and clamp it. At the sides of the shaft studs stops 38 are located. In the discharge position of the completely coiled foil roll, when the shaft studs are retracted, these stops 38 stop the core so that the foil roll is set entirely free from the core supports. In order to have the core rotating, at least during its residence in the coiling stations, use can be made of driving means which are known per se. In this embodiment a belt drive 39 is shown for this purpose which is driven by means of a tooth gear drive 40. The drive of the rotating member 22 is not represented. The intermittent drive of this rotating member does not belong to the invention and this drive can be effected in any desired, known manner. The drive of the core driving means comprises a slip coupling 41 or a similar connection which should prevent too great stresses in the foil web. As represented in the drawings, only the lefthand shaft stud is driven. A bi-lateral drive also is possible.

The operations of all movable parts of the various means should take place in the desired sequence of treatment. For that purpose the parts in the embodiment according to the invention are actuated by pneumatic cylinders 37 and 42 forming a part of a pneumatic actuation system to which also the distribution box 43 and the pipe system belong. The operation of the distribution box 43 can be commanded and controlled in various ways. In the embodiment and electronic control unit 44 is diagrammatically represented which, dependent on signals originating from control means of which only one member 25 is represented, causes the pneumatic system to function. The embodiment of the pneumatic system and the electronic control system do not form a part of the invention and, therefore, are represented diagrammatically only.

The operation of the apparatus will be elucidated with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. In FIGS. 1 and 2 the four positions, taken by the core supports in the four rest positions of the rotating member 22, are represented by A, B, C, and D. In FIG. 1 in position A an empty core 14 is on its way from the stock container to the location where it will be clamped by the core supports 23 and 24. In position B the checking of the presence of an empty core between the core supports is effected by means of control member 25. In position C, at the location of the first coiling station 9 the guide plate 27 is in the inactive position, and so are the movable cutting member 28 and the pressure roll 33. In this first coiling station the foil web is coiled on to the rotating core driven by the core supports at that location. In position D a foil roll just has been brought in a discharge gutter 21 by the tilting of the discharge member 18 for the completely coiled foil rolls.

FIG. 2 indicates the situation after the rotating member has rotated one step further in the direction of the arrow. Here the operations which take place during this subsequent rest position, are fixed at a certain moment. During the displacement of the rotating member after this preceding rest position, and after only a certain percentage of the aluminium foil to be coiled onto the core has been coiled onto the core in the first coiling station, this partially coiled foil roll is brought into position D by the rotation of the rotating member. In this position D the remnant of the amount of foil to be coiled is coiled. Meanwhile the discharge member 16 has been tilted back into its initial position by means of the upward movement of the lower plate 17 by excitation of the pneumatic cylinder 42, and this discharge member then is pressed against the roll which is further coiled completely. Hereby a smooth coiling is achieved and also, after the subsequent severance of the foil web, the last free foil end is smoothly coiled onto the roll. During the subsequent downward movement of the lower plate 17 the tilting of the discharge member 16 and the conveyance of the completely coiled roll 20 in the discharge gutter 21 follows automatically, as represented in FIG. 1.

'During the coiling in this second coiling station in position D the guide plate 27 meanwhile has been brought into the active position. This guide plate joins then an arcuate plate 26 of the rotating member in the first coiling station and these two plates, together with the empty core which is present there already, form a slot narrowing into the coiling direction of the core. At the same time the pressure roll 33 meanwhile has been moved towards this empty rotating core and the foil web moving between this roll and core is pressed against the empty core.

At the moment that the correct quantity of aluminium foil has been coiled onto the core in position D, the

cutting member 28 with the cutting knife 29 and the blowing nozzle 31 are moved towards the foil web by excitation of the pertaining pneumatic cylinder and thereupon the foil web is severed by cooperation of the movable knife and the stationary knife end 30 of the arcuate plate 26. Duting this cutting action compressed air is forced by means of the blowing nozzle 31 into the direction of the slot between the core in the first coiling station and the pertaining arcuate place 26. Immediately after the cutting action the loose extremity of the foil web is blown into this slot in the direction of the narrowing, and this extremity by the air pressure accumulating in the narrowing part, is fed into the narrowing between the empty core and the portion of the foil web present there. In this manner this extremity is clamped between the rotating core and the portion of the foil web, and the coiling of the foil onto the empty core starts. Hereupon the guide plate 27, the pressure roll 33 and the combined blowing nozzle 31 and cutting member 28 are retracted into their respective inactive positions and the station of FIG. 1 is restored. The discharge of the completely coiled roll in position D takes place by the excitation of the pneumatic cylinders 37 by which the shaft studs 23 and 24 are removed from the core present there, whereupon, by excitation of the pertaining pneumatic cylinder 42 the lower plate 17 of the discharge member is moved downwards, and the projecting part of the discharge member 16 contacts the stop 19 which effects a tilting movement of the discharge member 16 due to which the foil roll 20 resting by gravity on the discharge member 16, moves along with the discharge member 16 and is discharged to the discharge gutter 21.

The excitation of the supply plates 12 and 13 by the pertaining pneumatic cylinder 42 is effected in such a way that the empty cores are supplied to the core supports in position A one by one and at the right moment of time.

Although a rotating member is used in the embodiment and all details of the means are represented, other embodiments fall within the scope of the invention and are comprised by the claimed rights. As examples hereof reference is made to the possibility to have the severance of the foil web take place by a movable knife only, to carry out the pressure member as a not freely rotating roll, and similar construction variations.

The apparatus described above according to the invention not only provides a solution for the problems inherent to a correct coiling of the severed ends of the foil web and a smooth working up of the foil material, but also allows a very high production since, with this apparatus, foil supply speeds can be realised over 200 meters/minute which speeds up till now have not been realisable when making aluminium foil rolls for domestic purposes.

I claim:

1. An apparatus for coiling sheet material on a core from a supply of such material comprising means for supporting a core including at least one pair of axially aligned spindles, means for moving said spindles axially into and out of engagement with opposite ends of said core, means for rotating said spindles about their aligned axes when engaged with said core, rotating means for supporting and moving said spindles about an axis other then their aligned axes to at least two stations, said rotating means holding said spindles at each of said stations for a time before moving said spindles to the next succeeding station, two of said stations being coiling stations, an arcuate plate supported by said rotating means adjacent to and spaced from a core on said spindles, an inner guiding surface on said plate for guiding the end of a sheet about said core, means at one of said stations movable into and out of cooperation with said arcuate plate to extend the guiding surface of said arcuate plate to assist in guiding said sheet about said core to initiate the coiling thereof, said means for rotating said spindles operating at said first station to coil sheet material on said core to less than completion, said means for rotating said spindles completing the coiling of said sheet material onto said core at said second station, cut-off means adjacent said first station for cutting off the sheet of material being wound, and means at said second station to discharge said fully wound core.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 including a plurality of pairs of spindles supported by said rotating member.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1 in which said cut-off means including a sharpened edge along one of the edges of the arcuate plate and a knife blade movable into and out of cutting relationship with said sharpened edge.

4. The apparatus of claim 2 in which there are four stations, one of said stations being an in-feed station for empty cores, another of said stations being an inspection station for inspecting for the presence of a core between a pair of spindles, and the other two stations being said previously mentioned coiling stations and in which each pair of spindles is moved in each station in succession.

5. The apparatus according to claim 4 in which each of said pairs of spindles has an arcuate plate associated therewith, each of said arcuate plates is brought successively, step-wise to said first coiling station, and said means movable into and out of cooperation with said arcuate plate moves into and out of cooperation with each of said arcuate plates in succession to extend the guiding surface of each said plate to assist in guiding said sheet about successive cores held between successive pairs of spindles.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 in which said cutoff means includes a sharpened edge on each of said arcuate plates and a knife movable into and out of cutting relationship successively with each of the said sharpened edges of said arcuate plates.

22% C UNITED .S'IATES PATENT OFFICE T CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3 Q Z4 Dated November 19, 1974 fit) 'nggigs Johannes Van Schijndel It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected asshown below:

F- Column 1, 11m 21 "of" should be "t Column 1, line 54 correct spelling of "pressurised" to "pressurized" Column 2, line 59 word "know" should be "known" Column 5, line 51, after "will" insert "be" 3 column 5, line 60 correct spelling of "longitudical" to "longitudinal" 1 Column 8, line 6, correct spelling of "during" to T en ng column 8, claim 1, line 66, word "then" should be "than" Signed and sealed this 21st day of January 1975.

LSEALl I Attest: I

McCOY M. GI BS QN JR. g I c. MARSHALL DANN Attestlng Off1cer Commissioner of Patents 

1. An apparatus for coiling sheet material on a core from a supply of such material comprising means for supporting a core including at least one pair of axially aligned spindles, means for moving said spindles axially into and out of engagement with opposite ends of said core, means for rotating said spindles about their aligned axes when engaged with said core, rotating means for supporting and moving said spindles about an axis other then their aligned axes to at least two stations, said rotating means holding said spindles at each of said stations for a time before moving said spindles to the next succeeding station, two of said stations being coiling stations, an arcuate plate supported by said rotating means adjacent to and spaced from a core on said spindles, an inner guiding surface on said plate for guiding the end of a sheet about said core, means at one of said stations movable into and out of cooperation with said arcuate plate to extend the guiding surface of said arcuate plate to assist in guiding said sheet about said core to initiate the coiling thereof, said means for rotating said spindles operating at said first station to coil sheet material on said core to less than completion, said means for rotating said spindles completing the coiling of said sheet material onto said core at said second station, cut-off means adjacent said first station for cutting off the sheet of material being wound, and means at said second station to discharge said fully wound core.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1 including a plurality of pairs of spindles supported by said rotating member.
 3. The apparatus according to claim 1 in which said cut-off means including a sharpened edge along one of the edges of the arcuate plate and a knife blade movable into and out of cutting relationship with said sharpened edge.
 4. The apparatus of claim 2 in which there are four stations, one of said stations being an in-feed station for empty cores, another of said stations being an inspection station for inspecting for the presence of a core between a pair of spindles, and the other two stations being said previously mentioned coiling stations and in which each pair of spindles is moved in each station in succession.
 5. The apparatus according to claim 4 in which each of said pairs of spindles has an arcuate plate associated therewith, each of said arcuate plates is brought successively, step-wise to said first coiling station, and said means movable into and out of cooperation with said arcuate plate moves into and out of cooperation with each of said arcuate plates in succession to extend the guiding surface of each said plate to assist in guiding said sheet about successive cores held between successive pairs of spindles.
 6. The apparatus of claim 5 in which said cutoff means includes a sharpened edge on each of said arcuate plates and a knife movable into and out of cutting relationship successively with each of the said sharpened edges of said arcuate plates. 